External volume won't mount in 20.04

Asked by Tim Masson

I have a hard drive on my Archer VR600 Wifi Access point. This identifies as two volumes in my Ubuntu system - SDA2 & SDA3, In Ubuntu 18.04 these 'just worked'. I have just updated to 20.04 and now I can't access these. If I try to access or mount either drive I just get the message:

Unable to access "volume (sda2)"
Failed to mount Windows share: Software caused connection abort.

I don't know where to start on this, I know the drives are healthy as I can access them from any of several other (Windows) machines. I can't easily go back to 18.04 - (I guess I could run a temporary install). I really need to access this drive to continue on a project.

Any suggestions, please?

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#1

If you remove the Ubuntu's systems knowledge of them and read, does it help?
What sharing method does the router use? Samba? CIFS?

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Tim Masson (timbo2706) said :
#2

Hi Andrew - thanks for the suggestions, but unfortunately I don't know how to do the first of these. The Router shows up in Files - Other Locations & when I click or tap on this it shows two volumes SDA2 & SDA2 - corresponding to the two partitions in the drive. However, if I try to Mount either of these I just get the message: Unable to Access Location Failed to mount Windows share: Software caused Connection Abort. There is no obvious control to remove them within Ubuntu other than Delete Permanently -(which does not seem to be a good idea) .

I've been searching the Router support database, and I don't see anything relevant, but If I look at the Router Properties - reported in Ubuntu - (other locations - Router - right-click - Properties then I see:

Name [Archer-VR600]
Type: Folder: (inode/directory)
Size unknown

Parent Folder: smb://workgroup
Accessed: unknown
Modified: unknown

This drive on the same Router worked OK in Ubuntu 18:04 - I don't think I ever needed to think about it.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#3

If you run:

sudo smbtree

Do you see the shares OK?

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Tim Masson (timbo2706) said :
#4

sudo smbtree gives me

sudo: smbtree: Command not found

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#5

Run "smbtree" without sudo and you'll be told the package to install to get it

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Tim Masson (timbo2706) said :
#6

Thanks - that has worked, but I still cannot open the shared drives.

sudo smbtree now asks me for the WORKGROUP/root's password - AFAIK I have not set-up a workgroup on my Windows PC or in the WiFi access point - or in this machine.

In Files - Other Locations I now see the 'network', the Wifi Access Point and my Windows PC. When I click on the Access Point's icon I can see the two drive partitions SDA2 & SDA3, and if I click on these I get the message (as before) Unable to access location, Failed to mount Windows share. Software caused connection abort.

I can't see the files on my Widows PC, but I don't have file sharing enabled - so I'm not surprised by that.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#7

If you run:

sudo smbtree

Now that we know the command exists, it should run OK

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Tim Masson (timbo2706) said :
#8

I now get stuck at the request for a password for WORKGROUP

sudo smbtree

[sudo] password for {ubunto account}

Enter password for WORKGROUP

I'm stuck at this point as I can find a way to retrieve the workgroup password in Windows 10 build 1902. I never have needed to set-up a workgroup and now everything would be "cloudified".

It must be asking for this to try to access my W10 PC. However it is not getting much nearer to opening the external drives. Tomorrow I will try this with that PC off the network - The Archer AP is not looking for WORKGROUP so maybe I'll get past this block.

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Tim Masson (timbo2706) said :
#9

That should read password for WORKGROUP/root

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Tim Masson (timbo2706) said :
#10

I have bypassed the WORKGROUP password request with sudo smbtree -N. I am no longer prompted for the WORGROUP password. However, it has not helped me understand what is going wrong.

I just get a 'new line' - nothing of interest is returned.

I now need to decide whether to go back to LTS 18.04 or to persist with looking how to get this version to access the remote disk.

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said :
#11

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.